A budget’s stark truths

A budget’s stark truths
Editorial
April 27, 2009

THE MASSACHUSETTS House begins debate this week on the most consequential budget in years. The proposed spending plan is an honest budget, without gimmicks. It paints a stark picture of what is possible with no new revenues, either from tax increases, withdrawals from the state’s rainy day funds, casinos, or other windfalls. But it is not a picture many would like to see.

Simply put, the House budget cuts $1.8 billion from programs and services the state is currently providing, adjusted for inflation. It eliminates 55 separate budget items completely, including youth violence prevention programs and community policing grants. According to a review by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the House plan cuts $4 million from regional food banks; $21 million in home care for frail elderly; and $2.4 million for the homeless mentally ill. It is highly unlikely that anyone outside the public sector could provide these services - or would want to.

Every day the newspapers are filled with stories of hardworking families who have been caught up in the economic vortex. People just getting by are left homeless when their rental buildings fall into foreclosure. Yet emergency rental assistance is cut by $15 million in the House budget. High school dropout rates are up, but the House budget cuts $4 million in remedial help for students about to flunk the MCAS exam. More people die from drug overdoses in Massachusetts than in car accidents, and yet the House budget eliminates $22 million in drug and alcohol recovery programs.

We don’t believe voters have become hardened to this suffering. We do suspect that they have grown cynical that such dire cuts are really needed, believing somehow that the budget can be balanced through rooting out the familiar “waste, fraud and abuse.” There are plenty of reasons for anger: double-dipping state employees; extravagant pensions; cozy special deals for friends. But all of them together hardly make up the $3.6 billion revenue shortfall the House is anticipating. That’s not a gap; it’s a chasm.

We support some cuts, including $50 million in enhanced police pay known as the Quinn bill, and $28 million in the travel and tourism department. We don’t think the effort to reform pensions, ethics, and municipal benefits should relax a bit. But let’s face it: Without some kind of tax increase, life will be unsustainable for too many vulnerable people.

Those who think they don’t need government services should thank their stars, and dig a little deeper.